TOKYO, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower Tuesday as the yen's strength against the U.S. dollar coupled with the market's rise to a seven-month high the previous day when Yoshihide Suga was elected as the ruling party's leader and thus presumptive prime minister, prompted investors to lock in gains.
The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 104.41 points, or 0.44 percent, from Monday to close the day at 23,454.89.
The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 10.26 points, or 0.62 percent, to finish at 1,640.84.
The yen's strength against the U.S. dollar triggered by expectations that the U.S. Federal reserve may indicate further monetary easing at its two-day policy meeting scheduled to begin later in the day, inhibited buying from early trade, local brokers said.
The yen's comparative strength against its U.S. counterpart, meanwhile, hurt exporter issues which typically rely on a weaker yen to boost overseas profits when repatriated as well as overall price competitiveness in global markets, investment strategists highlighted.
Some investors also hit the sidelines ahead of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting from Wednesday, to see how the central bank gels with the new administration, headed by newly elected Liberal Democratic Party chief Yoshihide Suga, who will become prime minister on Wednesday and formalize his new Cabinet.
"The market can avoid any storms if key ministers are retained as expected, showing clearly that the Suga administration will maintain Abe's policies," Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Co., was quoted as saying.
By the close of play, iron and steel, air transportation and mining-oriented issues comprised those that declined the most.
Exporter issues dented by the yen's strength included Panasonic Corp. dropping 1.15 percent and Fujitsu slipping 0.2 percent by the close.
Canon Inc. lost 2.7 percent, while Sony Corp., after reports it will lower production of its PlayStation 5 owing to problems securing chips, retreated 2.4 percent.
Air transportation issues gave up gains from the previous day as investors took profits, with Japan Airlines dropping 2.9 percent, while ANA Holdings fell 2.5 percent.
Bucking the downward trend, SoftBank Group added 0.3 percent, recouping earlier losses, as investors digested the previous day's announcement the conglomerate plans to sell its entire stake in British chip designer Arm Ltd. to U.S. semiconductor maker Nvidia Corp. in a move that could net the conglomerate up to 40 billion U.S. dollars to help offset investment losses. Enditem
